Do Unto Iran, As We Do Unto Ourselves

Is the media extremely easy to manipulate and take advantage of, yes?

Are they willing to report first and ask questions later, yes?

If people hear a lie often enough, can they really stop themselves from believing it a little, no?

We are really good at making half-truths (or 1/16th truths) and pushing the issue via repetition online and in the media until what was absurd and stupid is transformed into a serious problem for a political candidate or organization (e.g. Obama is a secret Muslim, ACORN's primary goal is to steal the election)

This we all know, but the question we haven't really asked is: How we can use this to bring down our enemies?

I am having trouble finding it, but I recently read an article that attributed Iran's influence in the Middle East to its Shiite connections and importance, given it's comparably weak military power. Iran is a center of religious study for all sorts of religious radicals and big shots in the fundamentalist world. It's like they all "went to college" together.

After reading this article, it occurred to me that if their strength is in their religious credentials, then we should attack them. Which brings me back to my previous point, we have been practicing these attacks for decades in the US and we're really good at it (see Swift Boating of John Kerry and examples from above).

Given that, I suggest we pursue an aggressive counterintelligence campaign to cheapen and ruin the squeaky clean radical credentials of the awful folks ruining lives and funding bombs in the middle east and beyond.

How do we do this? I see two primary methods:

• Rumor mongering via blogs, "leaks" to news outlets and word of mouth campaigns (e.g. Achmedinejad is a secret Christian, the leader of Hamas is a fan of American Idol and secretely doesn't believe in Allah, etc.)
• Photoshopping of key leaders doing/saying less than flattering things (e.g. kissing a man, respecting women and Israel, mocking religious icons, etc.). The Photoshopping should work great in communities that don't even have computers or have even heard of Photoshop.

Overall, the trick is repetition and playing upon the incredible vulnerability and gullibility of the human mind. Thoughts? Better ways to go about this?

Update: This is what I'm talking about (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/09/iranian-clerics-affair-ca_n_156623.html). Let's keep it going!

Some inspiration for a future post:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/02/home-securitys-secur.html

The Media, Investigators or Drama Queens?

Wouldn't it be refreshing if the media said something was no big deal every once in a while? It seems that they'll run around and talk to just about anyone they can find who will answer their question in a dramatic way.

"Is the loss of Bill Richardson a huge blow to the Obama administration?"

First of all they probably don't think it is, but the sad part is that they're not even asking the right question. The real blow is whether or not the loss of Billy will hurt the American people. Would he have done a good job and help us get out of the huge hole we're in? If yes, we should be talking about how the greater good would be served by keeping him in, if not then it's no big deal. But the media has time to fill and ratings to win, so they'll make it dramatic.

Of course this is nothing new, but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing and that it hasn't gone too far.

You can almost hear the desperation on their voices sometimes, "but shouldn't Obama respond to the situation in Gaza?

The response from every honest "pundit" is that he's doing the right thing and that no we shouldn't, but they'll keep asking the question everyday until it's over or he becomes president. However, the media is mad/scared because they want him to give them something to talk about. They love Obama, and they get bitter when he doesn't give them enough to talk about. After all, 24 hours is a daunting amount of time to fill, but is that an excuse for potentially damaging and generally dumb questions?

Some Articles I've Been Reading and Liking:

Some perspective on the war in Gaza: http://breasy.com/israeldefender/?p=144

The true impact of the rockets on Israel: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733118485&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

What's broken on wall street: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/opinion/04lewiseinhorn.html?_r=1&ref=opinion